The Supremes at the Copa

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The Supremes at the Copa
The Supremes at the Copa cover
Live album by The Supremes
Released November 1, 1965
Recorded Copacabana nightclub, Manhattan, New York City, New York; August 1965
Genre Pop/soul
Length N/A
Label Motown Records
M 636
Producer(s) Berry Gordy, Lawrence Horn
Professional reviews
The Supremes chronology
More Hits by the Supremes
(1965)		 The Supremes at the Copa
(1965)
---
Merry Christmas
(1965)		 I Hear a Symphony
(1966)


The Supremes at the Copa is a live album by Motown singing group The Supremes, recorded during their debut engagement at the prestigious Copacabana nightclub in New York City. Released in the late fall of 1965, At the Copa was the first live album issued by The Supremes, and the only live album issued by the group's best-known lineup of Diana Ross, Florence Ballard, and Mary Wilson.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Background

The Supremes were, following Sammy Davis, Jr. and Sam Cooke, among the first African-American entertainers to appear at the Copa, and playing the club was seen by Motown CEO Berry Gordy as an in-roads into the conservative white middle-America market. Gordy and the Motown staff, including vocal director Maurice King and choreographer Cholly Atkins, invested significant amounts of time and money into preparing the Supremes for their Copa debut.

Tensions ran high at several points during the preparation stages. Florence Ballard was angered that her only solo number, "People", was now to be led by Supremes lead singer Diana Ross, while Ross herself complained about the group's staging and bristled under Gordy's criticisms of their performances. Nevertheless, the Copa engagement was a success, paving the way for several other Motown stars, including The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Martha & the Vandellas, and Smokey Robinson & the Miracles to secure play dates at the Copa.

After the success of their initial Copa engagement, Mary Wilson noted that the Supremes were "welcome to play any club in the world"[1] The group had several future play dates at the Copa, and eventually earned $20,000 a week for these performances, fees on the level of popular performers such as Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin.

[edit] Album release information

The Supremes at the Copa LP was issued by Motown on November 1, 1965; Motown also released the Supremes' Merry Christmas LP on the same date. At the Copa peaked at number 11 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and at number six on the Billboard R&B Albums chart. The performances included on the LP include several pop standards, four of the Supremes' number-one hit singles, and a medley of songs by late soul star Sam Cooke. Berry Gordy and Motown's head engineer Lawrence Horn are credited as the producers, and the orchestra was arranged and conducted by Gil Askey.

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Side one

  1. Opening Introduction
  2. "Put On A Happy Face" (Lee Adams, Charles Strouse)
  3. "I Am Woman, You Are Man" (Jule Styne, Bob Merrill)
  4. "Baby Love" (Holland-Dozier-Holland)
  5. "Stop! In the Name of Love" (Holland-Dozier-Holland)
  6. "The Boy From Ipanema" (Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, Norman Gimbel).
  7. "Make Someone Happy" (Styne, Betty Comden, Adolph Green)

[edit] Side two

  1. "Come See About Me" (Holland-Dozier-Holland)
  2. "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody" (Sam M. Lewis, Jean Schwartz, Joe Young)
  3. "Queen Of The House" (Roger Miller, Mary Taylor)
  4. Group Introduction
  5. "Somewhere" (Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim)
  6. "Back In My Arms Again" (Holland-Dozier-Holland)
  7. Sam Cooke Medley (Sam Cooke)
    1. "You Send Me"
    2. "Cupid"
    3. "Chain Gang"
    4. "Bring It On Home To Me"
    5. "Shake"
    6. "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons"
  8. "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You" (James Cavanaugh, Russ Morgan, Larry Stock)

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Chart history

Name Chart (1965 - 1966) Peak
position
The Supremes at the Copa U.S. Billboard Pop Albums 11
The Supremes at the Copa U.S. Billboard R&B Albums 6

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Wilson, Mary and Romanowski, Patricia. Dreamgirl & Supremes Faith.

[edit] References

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